Apple puts the frighteners on jailbreakers

Apple is using scare tactics to make sure that
people tow the line and obey the rules about which telco they should
use.

Apple has been fuming that people have been buying their phones and jail
breaking them so that they can enjoy the same freedom that consumers of
every other phone has to chose their own network. Now the outfit has gone
on the attack about jailbreaking, dubbing it "hacking" in order to make
"unauthorized modifications" to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple claims
that hacked phones should expect "Frequent and unexpected crashes of the
device, crashes and freezes of built-in apps and third-party apps, and loss
of data." It also claims that "Security compromises have been introduced by
these modifications that could allow hackers to steal personal information,
damage the device, attack the wireless network, or introduce malware or
viruses."

It also claims that jailbreaking can lead to the iPhone OS
being "damaged" like a cracked egg such that it is "not repairable." In
turn, iPhones or iPods that have been jailbroken risk "becoming permanently
inoperable."

The attacks on jailbreaking are amusing and one has to
wonder why Apple suddenly considers that it is dangerous all of a sudden.
Could it be because the Electronic Frontier Foundation to officially
legalise jailbreaking through a DMCA exemption.The EFF has petitioned the
Copyright Office to make jailbreaking exempt under fair use laws.

Apple
claims that if users don't obey its will and hand over huge wodges of cash
to the supplier of its choice they are infringing copyright. Still it is a
little different from telling users that if they jailbreak their phones the
digital equivalent of the horsemen of the apocalypse will ride and the lamb
will break the seven seals.